message from Dr. Elst

[Bharat Gupt]

Dear List,
I am forwarding a message as requested by Dr. Elst.

best wishes,
Bharat Gupt,  Associate Professor, Delhi University
PO Box 8518, Ashok Vihar, Delhi 110052  INDIA
tel 91-11-724 1490, fax 741-5658, email: bharatgupt at vsnl.com 

Subject: 
       Fw: Harappan deciphered 
   Date: 
       Fri, 14 Jul 2000 15:33:02 +0200 
  From: 
       "Koenraad Elst" <koenraad.elst at pandora.be>
    To: 
       <abhinav at del3.vsnl.net.in>
    CC: 
       "Vishal Agarwal" <vishalagarwal at hotmail.com>


Dear Prof. Gupta,

Could you post the following for me on the Indology list?

Yours sincerely,
Koenraad Elst


> Van: Bharat Gupt <abhinav at DEL3.VSNL.NET.IN>
> Aan: <INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK>
> Verzonden: dinsdag 11 juli 2000 15:48
>
> > I am also wondering if the prohibited subject AIT/OIT has not made a
> > covert comeback.
>
> Not as far as my input on the Harappan script is concerned.  As I pointed
> out with reference to the Sanskritic decipherment by José Calazans, thereis
> no necessary connection between the language of the IVC and the IEhomeland.
> In Calazans' view, the IVC language was Sanskrit yet the IE homeland wasin
> Central Asia, whence they entered India in perhaps 3000 BC, a slight
> chronological variant on the AIT.  Conversely, Shrikant Talageri puts the
> homeland to the *east* of the Indus region, in UP, and someone mightborrow
> that part of his theory and combine it with a non-IE language for the IVC.
>
> To make nominally good on another promise, here's one more piece of
> decipherment by Jha/Rajaram.  Their reading of the Pashupati seal is:
>
> Ishadyattamara
>
> with different possibilities for vowel length yielding differentreasonable
> readings, most favoured one being: "Mara tamed by Isha".
>
> If we could resume the script debate on normal terms, I would answer the
> questions about N. Jha's role and methodology.  But that will have to bein
> another forum, for I am quitting this list.  As my lamented grandmother
> said: don't stay where you don't feel welcome.
>
> All the best.
>
> K. Elst